Spain will meet Croatia in the final of the UEFA Nations League following a 2-1 victory over Italy on Thursday evening.
The Spanish opened the scoring as early as the third when Yeremy Pino pounced on Italy's passing out from the back to skip past goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma for the simple finish.
The Italians were awarded a penalty in the tenth minute when Robin Le Normand was deemed to have handled in the box. Ciro Immobile stepped up and rifled the ball into the bottom corner, sending Unai Simon the wrong way.
Italy thought they had taken the lead in the 21st minute through Davide Frattesi's compose finish, but celebrations were cut short after the strike flagged offside in the build-up.
Donnarumma was certainly the busier of the two goalkeepers in the first half, as the Italian was called upon to keep out Alvaro Morata before he did well to thwart Gavi later in the stanza.
The second half was played at a lively tempo and Italy found themselves defending early on, with Donnarumma needed to make a couple vital saves in the opening ten minutes.
Italy coach Roberto Mancini opted for a double change on the hour mark, as Immobile and Jorginho made way for Federico Chiesa and Bryan Cristante while Spain threw on Sergio Canales for Gavi a few minutes later.
With the game seemingly headed for extra-time, Spain got the winning goal with two minutes as Joselu made an immediate impact from the bench with a close-range finish in the box two minutes after his introduction.
You must be SIGNED IN to read and post comments.